Popularity of "Molly" is growing; ER visits up 120%

WASHINGTON (WUSA9) -- As if sending your kids back to high school or college isn't tough enough, here's some fear-inducing and shocking information on the drug MDMA, nicknamed "Molly."

It's responsible for two deaths at a New York music festival this past weekend, and it's being glorified by rappers and pop stars. Now, it's landing more and more young people in emergency rooms across the country.

23-year-old Jeffrey Russ and 20-year-old Olivia Rotondo are the latest tragic victims whose deaths are thought to be caused by MDMA or "Molly." Four more people are right now hanging onto their lives after taking the euphoria-inducing drug, all at the Electric Zoo Festival in New York this weekend.

We asked Clinical Director Nike Hamilton of Aquila Recovery how easy it is to find the drug. Her answer, "It's as easy as finding any other pill."

If you're hearing about Molly more and more, it's hard to escape. From Kanye, to Miley, to Wiz Khalifa, seems many rappers and the occasional pop star is referencing the drug in their lyrics. It's also popular at clubs, and raves.

Hospitals report that in 2011, they saw a 120% increase in trips to the ER over 2004. It may be a heart-racing phenomenon, ingested in pills or powder, right now, but the all-night party drug's actually been around for years.

Some say it's a more pure version of Ecstasy, but Hamilton says you'll never know exactly what it's been mixed with. She says even if you don't end up like Russ and Rotondo, or like 19-year-old Brittany Flanagan of New Hampshire who allegedly overdosed on Molly at a DJ Zedd concert in Boston just days earlier, it could wreck you forever.

"Yes, death is the ultimate tragedy but if it affects your brain in such a way that you're not able to function on a daily basis because you can't concentrate, because you have memory loss, because you're depressed, all of those can ultimately lead to death."